Page 101 of Return Policy

“Seth, you can’t be serious,” Charlie snaps as Seth puts the car in drive. “He’s a person.”

“He’s a nobody,” Seth says, tone void of emotion, pulling off the shoulder. “I’m not letting this bum walking in the road ruin my life.”

I stare at my red-soaked hands, shaking uncontrollably.

“We have to call the police,” I whisper, staring out the window as Seth drives past the bloodied body on the shoulder of the road without a single glance back.

“We’re not calling the goddamn police, Sophia!” Seth shouts at the top of his lungs, and I flinch.

I take one last look at the body we left behind like roadkill before emptying the entire contents of my stomach on the floorboard.

“We have to call the police,” I say, hardly able to get my voice above a whisper as I turn over my trembling hands, checking them for blood.

“Sophia?” A familiar husky voice blurs into my consciousness.

“Blood.” My hands shake uncontrollably. “The blood.”What happened to the blood?

“Are you okay? Baby?”

My breathing is sporadic. “We have to call the police.”

“What?” Warm hands grab mine. “No, everything’s fine.”

“We have to call the police!” I scream, pleading, sobbing, ripping my hands away to undo my seat belt, looking for my phone.

“Sophia!” A hand is placed on my knee, and I jerk away.

“We have to call the police!” I shout.Why won’t he understand?

“Sophia, everything is fine. Theo just hit my bumper, but everyone’s fine.”

Theo?

“No.” I shake my head, tears sliding slowly down my cheeks. “No. No. No. I won’t let you do this again! It’s not fine. It’s not okay. This isn’t okay.” I gasp for air, for oxygen, for relief from the debilitating pain. “We have to call the police.”

“Sophia, baby, please calm down.” The familiar voice cracks as another hand reaches towards me, and I fold in on myself. “Look at me… Please.”

My entire body trembles, and I force my gaze to his, blinking rapidly. Slowly, brown hair and terrified arctic eyes appear before me.

“Elijah?” I croak out.

“Yeah, baby. It’s me…” He tilts his head. “Everyone is fine… Can I show you?”

Is he telling the truth?I nod my head slowly, and he helps me out of the truck, putting his arm around me. He doesn’t let go of my hand as he guides me to the back of the truck, showing me the small dent Theo put in his fender.

A car honks, pulling my attention toward it. The surroundings slowly blur into my consciousness. There’s no trees or forest or shopping cart with someone’s entire possessions spilled on the grass. We’re on a street by campus as vehicles rush past us on the busy road.Right. We were on the way to Noah’s.

“There’s no blood,” I whisper. “There’s no body.”

“There’s no body,” Elijah repeats calmly, patiently, squeezing me tighter but not pushing for more—not asking what I’m talking about, not asking me to explain. “See, everyone is okay.”

My face twists into a look of confusion. “Everyone is okay?”

28

ELIJAH

Sophia’s body shivers uncontrollably under my hold, tears falling hard, quiet sobs ripping through her as she stares at the road. My mind spins like a tornado with every new word that falls out of her mouth.

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